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Vegetable Gardening

Another Celery Question

16 years ago

Hi,

I did a search and didn't find my specific question, although I did find a lot of good info.

We have grown celery before, but mostly in containers.

I bought packs, because it was too late for seed. Garden was tilled with compost and rabbit manure. (I grow organically)

Had no problems with growth, they looked great for many weeks. I had one plant go yellow and wasn't sure what was going on. I did water with compost/worm casting tea.

They were planted next to celeriac - which did wonderfully and grew large knobs. (caramelized Vidalia onions and celeriac - yum!)

We pulled the celery on Sunday and are going through the plants cleaning them up. Some had scale, which surprised me. Another problem to be addressed next year.

The main problem seems to be a darkening kind of rot at the base of the stem/plant. The brown streaks up the stem and the stems are dry inside. The bases are cracked. The greens on top are fine. Not all the plants were affected, perhaps one third.

I learned that the pack plants, even though they looked like one plant, were not. I should have thinned to one.

What could I have done differently? Maybe they were planted too close? I had them about 18 inches apart, but by the end of the season they were all touching. I would have guessed they were adequately watered, for the celeriac did well. The yellow plant was completely brown in the stems and is now compost.

Any ideas as to what this rot or disease are? I didnÂt see worms or borers, but they could still be part of it.

Thank you in advance!

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Comments (4)

franktank232
16 years ago
I grew celery this year, but from seed. My problem was planting them too close. Next year i'll space them more. Not sure what your problem was. Celery seed is very easy to get going. I had to get rid of a bunch of plants because i had too many! Start early!

What does celeriac taste like? I really want to try it, but don't want to waste a lot of space. Maybe i'll order some seed just in case.
carmellia
16 years ago
I am amazed to see someone say that celerly is very easy to get going. I planted purchased plants the only other time I tried celery, and it grew just fine. This year, I bought seed. I saw only 5 to 8 seeds sprout and they slumped over and died within a week. He hesitate to try it again.

I wonder about celeriac too. I love celery hearts. Is that what it is like? Carmellia
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franktank232
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Maybe the seed was bad? Not sure. I kept the seed VERY moist until they sprouted. Maybe that was the trick? I don't remember it being too warm. I grew a variety from Harvest Moon Seed Company. Think its a Europeans type.
kathrynd
Original Author
16 years ago
I have started celery from seed before, just not this year. It got too late. Johnny's Selected Seed site has a good write up on culture. They list pests and diseases, just not what I encountered.

This is a third year garden, so I am still sorting things out. I have a lot of pests here that I never encountered on veggies before. Many fungus problems also, but I thought I had things spaced better this year.

Celeriac - I posted a link below I found through search that has some info. We have been eating it for years, this is the first year growing it. Sometimes called celery root - it looks like a knobby root - softball size.
It tastes like celery, maybe milder. It is very good cubed in soups and I like it in a winter veggie roast. Just toss all root crop chunks with Olive oil, salt and pepper and some herbs - thyme, etc. Slow roast.
My partner covets the celery hearts - and he loves celeriac also. So you might like it.

Buy some first, if you don't want to use up space - international markets seem to carry them more, although they seem to be getting more mainstream. They keep well in the fridge.

Thanks for your responses...

Here is a link that might be useful: Celeriac

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